Back In May....

 Today I found these photos, taken, edited and waiting for a blog post.....back in May! I completely forgot about/shuffled them away, in the busyness of life this summer. And it has been BUSY! I keep expecting things to slow down, but the calendar keeps filling up. There has been much fun, lots of hard work, a great deal of hot weather, and good memories everywhere. So here is a look at what our area looked like back at the end of May.....

 Look at the corn! It is about 4 or 5 inches tall in this picture. I measured it on July 4th (last Wednesday) and it was 6 and a half feet tall! That beat last years July fourth record by 6 inches!

 I do miss the view that we had back when the corn was short. Now we are fenced in by a rustling hedge of corn. 

 Our field didn't get mowed until late in May. We are currently working on fencing it in for the alpacas. When I was taking a walk down in the field I took some photos of the tall grasses in the evening light. I prefer the neatly mowed field, it is so much greener and tidier, but I must admit I miss seeing the tall grass rippling in the wind.

I'm away from home until this evening. If the lighting is still good, maybe I can take some pictures of my most recent spinning projects. Until next time, take care!

Happy Independence Day!!!!!

photo courtesy of Pinterest

"Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD: and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance." Psalm 33;12

photo courtesy of Pinterest

O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming, Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thru the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming? And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof thru the night that our flag was still there. O say, does that star-spangled banner  yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?


O thus be it ever, when free men shall stand Between their loved homes and the war's desolation! Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserved us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just; And this be our motto: "In God is our trust!" And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!


~Francis Scott Key 1779-1843

photo courtesy of Pinterest

"Sir, my greatest concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right." ~Abraham Lincoln

"America The Beautiful"

"O beautiful for patriot dream That sees, beyond the years, Thine alabaster cities gleam - Undimmed by human tears! America! America! God shed His grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea."
~Katharine Lee Bates, 1859-1929

photo courtesy of Pinterest

"We Weep For You, America"

We weep for you, America,

We weep for you, our land,

We weep for you, America,

You were once strong in God's

almighty hand.

You left the God of our 

fathers,

You've turned from the Word of

the Lord,

We weep for you, America,

For the Truth  that you have

scorned.

"We Pray For You, America'

We pray for you, America,

We pray for you, our land,

We pray for you, America, 

That you stay under God's 

almighty hand.

We pray for a moving revival,

To draw us to God from our sin,

We pray for you, America,

For a change that's from within.

photo courtesy of Pinterest

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves. and pray, and see my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."

~II Chronicles 7:14

After The Rain

 A few weeks ago we had a wonderful thunderstorm that left everything drenched and covered in water droplets. I love to take photos after rain so I headed out with my camera to see what there was to see. Just as a warning, this post is rather heavy on the photos. Once I started shooting I couldn't stop......

Ripening mulberries

The bush that makes everyone sneeze. We don't know what it is called. Anyone have any ideas? It was given to my Grandma years and years ago by a lady who worked at a nursery.

Iris leaves

Day Lily.

Wet lake rocks on the railing.

Mourning dove, keeping the babies dry & cozy.

Old fashioned rose.

Ripening blackberries.

Painted Daisy.

Cornfield. Since this photo it has grown past my shoulder and almost over my head in some spots.

We have clay and this portion of the cornfield is the bottom of a gentle slope. It gets lots of water and grows VERY tall here.

Lichen on the apple tree.

Sunlight coming through the rain drenched leaves.

White pine.

Concord grapes.

Storm clouds moving off.

Field corn.

It was a beautiful storm, and brought some much needed rain. The soil is exceptionally hard when we haven;t had rain for awhile. Due to the lack of rain we were not able to till our garden until very late. We have planted a few tomatoes, but that is probably all we'll do this year. We'll have to depend on the Farmer's market this summer/autumn. Thankfully prices at the Farmer's markets are excellent, and it is supporting local farmers and gardeners.

Spinning & A Book Review

Lately I have been doing quite a bit of spinning. It has been wonderful to be able to be back to spinning and able to work on my projects every day, even if it is only for a few minutes. 
The above yarn is one of the 1 ounce samplers that I dyed up. This one is currently on the back burner as I work on the following project. I should just hurry and finish it up. It takes hardly any time to spin and ply 1 ounce. But my interest has wandered to a different project (*blushes*) and there my sample sits, neglected in the bowl on the bookcase....

This is the project that is currently consuming my spinning moments. I have a special plan for it and I can not wait to reveal my idea to you! Right now I am spinning the darker tones in this roving. It is Merino wool, and so very bouncy! I am doing a little better getting it the weight I want it. 

I finished spinning and plying this yarn. I just realized that I did not show you any in-progress photos. It is such a unique mix of colors, I have no idea what I will do with it yet. For now it has joined the other three on display on the piano.

Several weeks ago I collected my holds from the library. I stumbled across this book, Hand-Stitched Felt, somewhere in blogland and saved a picture of it to my phone to order. I was so delighted with it that I have decided to do a quick review for you before I send it back to the library. Which it is probably overdue now.... ehem.

First off, the cover! Aren't these finger puppets the sweetest things! I love the different expressions on their faces. They all have such individuality and character.

The book has lots of pictures, many adorable hand-drawn diagrams & patterns, and all instructions seem to be clear and concise.

Look at this sweet little rabbit! I think it would make a nice addition to a little boy's room. There is also a girl rabbit version. But the overalls on this little gentleman were just too cute, I had to share this picture.

Patchwork Potholder

I am an avid letter writer and this Stationery Pouch would be just the thing for traveling, or simply going outdoors to write a letter. I know plenty of other letter writers who would also appreciate this pouch.

A Fetching Portfolio is on my list of things to make, as soon as I have that much felt on hand! I would do different colors, but the overall idea is brilliant. There is even a hard mat board sandwiched inside to keep papers from bending. This would be perfect for letters, writings, stories, drawings, paintings.... the possibilities are practically endless.
Personally I would probably use it for my watercolour paintings. I've wanted a portfolio ever since I saw the one in the movie, Miss Potter. 

Everyday Journals are sweet little notebooks perfect for chronicling memories, sketching a photo, writing down notes...

Patchwork Potholder I like the rustic look of these, the scrappy pieces, big stitches. A set of these would make lovely Christmas gifts for all the cooks in the family. 

The Stuffed Animal Family is a lovely gathering of mice, dogs, and rabbits. Their little outfits can be changed in a multitude of ways, depending on color and what stitches and embellishments are used. I think the little dresses would look so sweet with embroidered flowers on the bottom. At 11 inches high they are a good sized stuffed animal, I was surprised by how big they are! From the picture I was imagining they would be much smaller.


These are just a few of the 25 projects withing this charming book! I hope this little glimpse of Kate Golda's Hand-Stitched Felt book will inspire you to pick up the felt & embroidery floss and start sewing! I know it inspired me. Now I just need to find a good source for nice wool felt. 


Happy Sewing, my friends! 

Halfway Down

"Halfway Down"

by A.A. Milne

Halfway down the stairs

Is a stair

Where I sit.

There isn't any

Other stair

Quite like

It.

I'm not at the bottom,

I'm not at the top;

So this is the stair

Where

I always

Stop.

Halfway up the stairs

Isn't up,

And isn't down.

It isn't in the nursery,

It isn't in the town.

And all sorts of funny thoughts

Run round my head:

"It isn't really

Anywhere!

It's somewhere else

Instead!"

*** "Halfway Down" was taken from When We Were Very Young, by A.A. Milne.

Just A little Bit Of Handspinning

Hello my friends! It is good to be back with you. Today I had occasion to drive through some very pretty countryside that I do not normally see so early in the morning. There were so many opportunities for photos, and had I not been on a time schedule I would have stopped multiple times. When I first set out there was mist rising off of the ponds and lying low in the hollows. The landscape looked so pretty in the early morning sunlight.

I did take the time to stop and snap a picture of this barn. I've always liked the setting it is in; winter, spring, summer, autumn, storm or shine, it always looks lovely.

There were a few cows loitering in and around the barn, and they stopped their munching to stare lazily at me for a moment, before going back to eating their breakfast.

Add caption

And now on to the hand spinning. Remember last time I showed you several spindles with spun singles?  Well these are the completed skeins of yarn. They were all spun as a single, wound into a  center-pull ball on my nostepinne , then the ends were plied together to make a two-ply yarn. The yarn weight is probably a light worsted, I have not checked the wraps per inch yet so that is just a rough guess. I find that since I was not spinning as much this past spring, I seem to be a little rusty when it comes to spinning certain weights. Or perhaps I am just not used to how this merino behaves. It seems to fluff up a great deal when it is plied and the twist is set.

"Orchid" 

 I wrote down the formulas for all these colorways and I hope to be able to successfully duplicate them in the future. These are all the 1 ounce samplers.

"Lagoon"

"Delphinium" 

Even though I dyed some colors I might not normally like, I find that I liked everything I dyed, simply because each roving was a lengthy process and became a work of art. Thus it is with each yarn, there are certain colors I might not usually pick, but the fact that I dyed the roving makes the yarn quite fascinating to me. Each is a work of art and I find that I can display them for quite awhile before I feel inclined to knit anything with them. Currently these three yarns are in a decorative bowl on the piano.


On another note, the previous post I did was my 200th post! I was quite astonished to realize that. 
Perhaps it is time for another giveaway! I'll keep you posted. 


For now, take care and have a lovely day!